When it comes to winning the NBA MVP Award for the 2025-26 season, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama wants to leave no doubt that he’s deserving of the hardware.
"I have thought about it," Wembanyama said following San Antonio’s 136-111 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday night, via ESPN. "I think right now, there is a debate. There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. I'm trying to make sure that at the end of the season, there's no debate.
"Right now, it is still reasonable that there is a debate. But as I said, my goal is to make sure there's no debate anymore at the end of the season."
Wembanyama is certainly in the conversation for the league’s most prestigious individual award after leading the Spurs to a 54-18 record in just his third season in the league. But, he has no shortage of tough competition including reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, among others.
When it comes to his candidacy for the award, Wembanyama laid out three distinct reasons why he thinks he’s deserving, beginning with his two-way impact.
"My first one would be that defense is 50% of the game and that it is undervalued so far in the MVP race. I believe I'm the most impactful player defensively in the league," Wembanyama said. "Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them three times with their real team. ... The third argument would be that offense impact is not just points."
For what it’s worth, Wembanyama was ranked No. 3 on the latest iteration of the KIA MVP ladder, behind Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic. With just a couple weeks remaining in the regular season, it might be tough for Wembanyama to make up much more ground
But, there will be MVP awards for Wembanyama in the future, probably multiple, given how good he is at just 22 years old. Plus, even if he doesn't win the MVP award this season, he's still likely to end the season with some hardware, as he's the heavy favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year.
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